For what they are worth, here are my personal recommendations for the June 3rd California ballot.  I do spend quite a bit of time reviewing competitive races before making my recommendations.  

Feel free to comment, agree, disagree, forward, or ignore.  But please Vote on Tuesday (polls open 7a.m.-8p.m.) or vote-by-mail if you already have an absentee ballot.  

Dan Kalb’s Ballot Recommendations for the June 3, 2008 Election

CA State Legislature – St. SENATE:

S.D. #3 – MARK LENO – Three decent candidates; Mark Leno is the strongest of the three. He’s progressive, effective and easy to work with.

S.D. #5 – LOIS WOLK – Good Assembly Member; deserves election to the St. Senate

S.D. #7 – MARK DeSAULNIER – Strong environmental advocate in the Assembly. He will make an excellent St. Senator.

S.D. #9 – LONI HANCOCK – Two good candidates here. Loni stands out with her long history of working on important causes at all levels of government. She’s a leader in the `Clean Money’ reform effort and a strong environmentalist. She’s shown a strong willingness to stand up to Arnold against harmful budget cuts. Don’t be mislead by the negative independent expenditure mailings-they are mostly funded by tribal gambling interests that disagree with Loni because she fought to stop a huge new casino that was proposed in San Pablo (right down the street from where my mother lives); Loni Hancock is a firm advocate for effective public education.  www.hancockforsenate.com

S.D. #11 – JOE SIMITIAN – Very smart St. Senator. He will be re-elected easily, deservedly so.

S.D. #13 – ELAINE ALQUIST – Deserves re-election. Has very strong environmental voting record.

S.D. #19 – HANNAH BETH JACKSON – Former Assembly Member with strong environmental record. She offers a good chance to put this seat into the Democratic column.

S.D. #23 – FRAN PAVLEY – Fran was the lead author on what are perhaps the two most important environmental bills this decade. She is a hard-working leader, a former school teacher, and has developed a national reputation on global warming issues. We need her in the State Senate. www.franpavley.org

S.D. #27 – ALAN LOWENTHAL – Excellent state senator with strong environmental voting record who deserves re-election.

S.D. #39 – CHRISTINE KEHOE – Excellent state senator with strong environmental voting record who deserves re-election.

CA State Legislature – St. ASSEMBLY:

 A.D. 1 – WES CHESBRO – This former State Senator has an excellent record on most every issue. He is running unopposed in the Democratic primary, and will make an excellent member of the Assembly.

A.D. 6 – JARED HUFFMAN – Smart environmental leader in the Assembly. Deserves re-election.

A.D. 7 – NOREEN EVANS – Very bright legislator. Future chair of the Assembly budget committee.

A.D. 8 – no recommendation

A.D. 9 – DAVE JONES – Excellent state legislator. Very committed to helping low income and disadvantaged residents. Strong liberal voting record.

A.D. 11 – TOM TORLAKSON – Currently a smart state senator with a strong liberal voting record. He will return to the Assembly easily.

A.D. 12 – FIONA MA – Fiona has done an excellent job as a first-term legislator. She passed meaningful legislation and has an excellent voting record on environmental issues.

A.D. 13 – TOM AMMIANO – Tom has been an excellent progressive S.F. Supervisor. He will make a fine Member of the Assembly representing San Francisco.

A.D. 14 – NANCY SKINNER – Nancy Skinner is the best among a decent crop of candidates. Nancy is a long-time environmental professional with tremendous experience and a well-deserved national reputation on global warming issues. If elected, she will be only the 2nd environmental professional elected to the State Legislature. She is also a passionate advocate for protecting social services and for increasing funding for public education. She was active in her local PTA. Currently, she is an elected member of the East Bay Regional Parks District board (and a former Berkeley City Council member). She is also a `clean money’ campaign reform advocate. Nancy is endorsed by Loni Hancock, the Sierra Club and CA League of Conservation Voters, the MGO Democratic Club, NOW, the National Women’s Political Caucus, and several local labor unions, just to name a few. In my opinion, she will be an excellent addition to the State Assembly.  www.nancyskinnerforassembly.com

A.D. 15 – JOAN BUCHANAN – Well-respected school board member. She offers a reasonably good chance to take this seat and put it in the Democratic column in November.

A.D. 16 – SANDRE SWANSON – Excellent first-term legislator. Chair of the Labor committee and a passionate advocate for reforms to unnecessary incarceration. Absolutely deserves re-election.

A.D. 18 – MARY HAYASHI – Will easily win reelection-deservedly so.

A.D. 19 – RICHARD HOLOBER – There are three decent candidates here on the Peninsula. Richard Holober is clearly the most progressive. A former School Board member, he currently serves as an elected member of the San Mateo Community College district and has always been a passionate advocate for students and public education. He is the executive director of the Consumer Federation of California and has experience navigating the hallways of Sacramento. He is a strong environmentalist, and consumer and labor advocate and he would be a hard-working legislator. While Papan or Hill would probably be okay, Holober would be better. He would also help facilitate strong relationships between organized labor and the environmental community. Well-financed business interests are spending independent expenditure money against him. Please vote Holober for Assembly in the 19th.   www.holober.com

A.D. 20 – ALBERTO TORRICO – Incumbent who cares deeply and passionately about protecting and creating jobs as well as helping lower income residents.

A.D. 21 – IRA RUSKIN – Effective and well-liked legislator with a strong environmental record.

A.D. 22 – PAUL FONG – Elected community college trustee with a background in civil rights. He is endorsed by the Sierra Club, the Democratic Party, and outgoing assembly member Sally Lieber just to name a few. He is the more progressive of the two leading candidates. Go to www.paulfong.org for more info

A.D. 23 – JOE COTO – Chair of the Latino Caucus. He’s a good legislator who wants to accomplish positive things. He also has a very good environmental voting record.

A.D. 24 – JIM BEALL – Very friendly freshman legislator who wants to make difference. He earned a top-notch environmental voting score.

A.D. 27 – no recommendation

A.D. 28 – ANNA CABALLERO – Very good legislator from Salinas. Willing to vote on yes on controversial bills to help the environment.

A.D. 30 – FRAN FLOREZ – Only Democratic candidate in the race. She will make an excellent Assembly Member; but she may have a tough time in November.

A.D. 35 – PEDRO NAVA – Excellent legislator from Santa Barbara; strong environmental record.

A.D. 40 – no recommendation

A.D. 41 – JULIA BROWNLEY – Very good first-year legislator-deserves re-election.

A.D. 42 – MIKE FEUER – Very good first-year legislator-deserves re-election.

A.D. 43 – PAUL KREKORIAN – Very good first-year legislator-deserves re-election.

A.D. 44 – ANTHONY PORTANTINO – Very good first-year legislator-deserves re-election.

A.D. 45 – KEVIN DeLEON – Very good first-year legislator-deserves re-election. He will be the new chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee.

A.D. 46 – JOHN PEREZ – Long-time community and political activist. He’s been a dedicated labor leader, environmentalist, and city commissioner. He will be an excellent assembly member

A.D. 47 – KAREN BASS – The new Speaker of the Assembly, Ms. Bass has earned a well-deserved reputation as a bright, dedicated, compassionate and effective legislator. She will make an excellent Speaker.

A.D. 49 – MIKE ENG – Very good first-year legislator-deserves re-election.

A.D. 50 – HECTOR De La TORRE – Well-respected and effective legislator. Deserves re-election

A.D. 51 – CURREN PRICE – Excellent first-year legislator; well-liked-deserves re-election.

A.D. 52 – ISADORE HALL – Strong candidate for this open seat. He’s been endorsed by the Calif. League of Conservation Voters, L.A. City Council president Eric Garcetti, several state elected officials and dozens of community leaders.

A.D. 53 – TED LIEU – Very good first-year legislator-deserves re-election.

A.D. 54 – BONNIE LOWENTHAL – Strong candidate for this open Assembly seat.

A.D. 55 – WARREN FURUTANI – Won special election in February. He’ll make a good legislator and deserves re-election.

A.D. 62 – W. AMINA CARTER – Very good first-year legislator. A more conservative candidate is challenging her in the Primary. Carter deserves re-election.

A.D. 65 – CARL WOOD – Former State Public Utilities Commissioner and passionate defender of consumers. This will be a tough district for a Democrat in November, but it’s worth a (long)shot.

A.D. 76 – LORI SALDANA – Strong environmentalist who clearly deserves re-election.

A.D. 78 – MARTY BLOCK – Strong, progressive candidate. Currently serves as president of the San Diego Community College District. Nominating Marty gives the Democrats a strong chance to move this seat into the Democratic column.

A.D. 79 – MARY SALAS – Very good first-year legislator-deserves re-election.

A.D. 80 – MANUAL PEREZ – More than one good candidate in this race. Mr. Perez has support among a number of environmental and social justice advocates. Let’s nominate him and try to take this seat back for Democrats in November.

U.S. Congress:  

 Vote for all the Democratic Incumbents.

 In district #4 – vote for CHARLIE BROWN and help him move this district into the blue column in November.

Alameda County Board of Supervisors:  

  District #4 – Nate Miley – Effective and compassionate Supervisor who deserves re-election

  District #5 – Keith Carson – Same as above!

Oakland City Council

At-Large seat – REBECCA KAPLAN – Rebecca is exactly the type of person Oakland needs on the City Council. She is smart, progressive, experienced and accomplished. She will shake things up on the city council and move it in a more progressive direction. She is a former civil rights attorney, policy advocate, and environmental activist. She understands the variety of issues facing Oakland residents and will work hard to make Oakland a more livable city. She is currently an elected member of the A/C Transit Board of Directors. She is endorsed by the Alameda County Democratic Party, the MGO Democratic Club, the Sierra Club, East Bay Young Dems, Supervisor Nate Miley, and a wide array of organizations and community leaders.   www.kaplanforoakland.org

District #1 – JANE BRUNNER – Smart, effective and experienced city council member. Effective mediator with progressive values. She has been a leader on affordable housing issues on the council.

District #3 – NANCY NADEL – Experienced, progressive city council member who deserves re-election.

District #5 – MARIO JUAREZ – Experienced community activist. He is trying unseat the more moderate incumbent who has been in office for a long time. I think it’s time for a change.

District #7 – CLIFFORD GILMORE – The incumbent is tied too closely to developers, landlords, and other business interests. Mr. Gilmore, on the other hand, is a long-time community activist and leader. He will make a very good city council member.

Oakland School Board

District #1 – JODY LONDON – Jody is the only candidate in this race with children in public schools. She is also the only registered Democrat in this race. She has been active in supporting funding for public education, an energy advisor to the school district, and an active member of her local PTA. She is endorsed by the Oakland Education Association, the Sierra Club, the Alameda County Democratic Party, the National Women’s Political Caucus, and dozens of local educators, parents, and community leaders.

District #3 – Olugemiga Oluwole – This is an open seat. Of the two candidates, Mr. Oluwole is my choice.

District #5 – Noel Gallo – Incumbent who deserves re-election

District #7 – no recommendation

Judge, Superior Court (seat #9) – Alameda County:

    Dennis Hayashi – Dennis is a highly qualified public interest attorney. He is a former attorney with the Asian Law Caucus, and was director of the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under President Clinton. He was also the director of the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. We desperately need more public interest attorneys as judges. He is endorsed by the Sierra Club, the Alameda County Democratic Party, and numerous state and local elected officials, as well as a handful of judges. Dennis will make a superb Superior Court judge.  www.dennishayashi.com

Oakland City Attorney – John Russo – Deserves re-election.

Los Angeles County Supervisor (District #2)

Mark Ridley-Thomas – The more progressive of the two leading candidates, Ridley-Thomas is a former L.A. City Councilman. He is currently a State Senator. We will miss him in Sacramento, but he will make an excellent County Supervisor.

State Propositions:

 98 – NO – This is an extreme proposal that would cost taxpayers and local governments millions of dollars and make it extremely difficult to enact new land use, housing, and environmental protection laws. This is not merely about eminent domain-it’s about private interests versus the public interest. Wealthy landlords and their Republican friends spent millions to get Prop. 98 on the ballot to eliminate renter protections and hamstring local governments. Prop. 98 could also destroy local land-use planning, erode environmental protections and lead to higher taxpayer costs.

 99 – YES – Prop. 99 is a genuine and reasonable eminent domain reform measure because it simply prohibits government from taking homes for the purpose of transfer to private developers. For more information, go to www.no98yes99.com

Local Ballot Measures

 Oakland and Alameda County measures:  

     F – YES – Extends the existing Utility Users Tax for the unincorporated areas of the County only, to fund vital County services, including services to unincorporated areas (e.g., Sheriff, Libraries, Code enforcement), and altering the tax to include video and cable services. County libraries very much need these funds.

    J – YES – This measure modernizes the existing telephone utility tax without increasing the current tax rate of 7.5%. It will tax telephone communications services in a uniform and equitable manner, regardless of the means of transmission or technology used.

Democratic County Central Committee – San Francisco

12th A.D. –

  Michael Bornstein

  Emily Drennen

  Mary Jung

  Hene Kelly

  Eric Mar

  Jake McGoldrick

  Trevor McNeil

  Jane Morrison

  Melanie Nutter

  Connie O’Connor

  Matt Tuchow

13th A.D. –

  Bill Barnes

  David Campos

  David Chiu

  Chris Daly

  Michael Goldstein

  Robert Haaland

  Joe Julian

  Leslie Katz

  Rafael Mandelman

  Aaron Peskin

  Laura Spanjain

  Debra Walker

Democratic County Central Committee – Alameda County

14th A.D. (vote for no more than six of the following seven candidates):

  Edie Irons

  Elizabeth Echols

  Karen Weinstein

  Cecilia `Ces” Rosales

  Eleanor Moses

  Andrea Laiacona Dooley OR Janet Flint

16th A.D. (vote for no more than six):

  Wayne Nishioka

  Sumi Paranjape

  Mark Briggs

20th A.D. – VICKI COSGROVE

          BOB WIECKOWSKI

UPDATE: From the comments we learned that all three candidates have stated explicitly that they support single payer health care, and SB 840 specifically.  Looks like this district will be in great hands come next December.

In Tuesday’s Calitics Show, we talked to Assembly Candidate Richard Holober.  The 19th contains much of San Mateo County on the San Francisco Peninsula. Holober is a long-time education advocate and has been a community college board member for several years. Holober knows the importance of education, not only through K12, but also of community colleges and higher education. He has a full grasp of the environmental challenges facing California and supports single payer health care.

Jerry Hill is a San Mateo County Supervisor, and running something of an establishment campaign.  He has the support of Congresswomen Speier and Eshoo and termed out Assembly man Gene Mullin, while Holober has Senator Boxer’s support.  Hill is a former Republican, but generally fairly progressive on issues such as the environment. However, I was unable to find any indication of supporting SB 840, single payer health care.

The one candidate that I would clearly not be comfortable with is Gina Papan, mayor of Millbrae. The daughter of the Late Assemblyman Lou Papan, she is the candidate of the corporations. She on the good end of IEs from Californias Allied for Patient Protection, the anti-single payer group also supporting Joe Nation in SD-03.

All in all, if I had a vote, I think I would go with Holober. He seems to have a great grasp on the change we need in Sacramento and will fight for our progressive values. (Note that I speak for myself here)

Chris Bowers, the architect of the googlebomb in 2006 against targeted Republican Congressional Candidates, has come up with a new one: Searching for John McCain.

In the extended text below–copied from the DailyKos diary by Chris linked above–you’ll find nine articles with negative information about John McCain.  The idea is simple: whenever you write John McCain‘s name online and post it, always optimize one of these articles by linking McCain‘s name to one of the nine articles below.

Post these links in your blogroll.  Put one or more of them in your sig line.  Always link to one of these articles when you post about the presumptive Republican nominee.

People will be getting information about John McCain through web searches, so let’s do whatever we can to select the information they receive.

This is a group effort.  Your participation is appreciated.

The Articles

Here are the nine articles:

1–John McCain Votes to Filibuster Minimum Wage Hike

AOL News is highly ranked on John McCain, and the minimum wage increase was incredibly popular.

2–McCain housing policy shaped by lobbyist

This article emphasizes how corporate special interests have formed McCain’s economic policy. If it becomes the top ranked MSNBC article, it will appear in the top ten searches for McCain nationwide.

3–Bush, McCain plug Social Security

Seniors are going to be the key swing vote in this election, and they hate Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security. This is the best polling message against McCain of all, which isn’t surprising since our victory on Social Security is how began to turn the tide against Republicans and conservatives three years ago. The headline alone ties McCain to Bush, and this article already ranks very high on searches for McCain Social Security.

4–McCain blasts Obama’s and Clinton’s attacks on NAFTA

This is a great article because it not only ties McCain to NAFTA, which is quite unpopular, but it also draws a contrast between McCain and Democrats on the issue. The LA Times is also in the top twenty searches for John McCain.

5–McCain in NH: Would Be “Fine” To Keep Troops in Iraq for “A Hundred Years”

McCain’s “100 years” statement ha damaged him already, and this article has already been significantly optimized on Google. While Mother Jones is not an ideal news source, it is the top article for this quote, and appears in the top thirty searches for John McCain already.

6–McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion

This is my personal favorite. The headline just makes McCain look like an asshole, and ties him to Bush. Who is opposed to health insurance for kids? CNN also is in the top ten searches for McCain and John McCain A lot of people will see this one.

7–Senate passes expanded GI bill despite Bush, McCain opposition

While I am not thrilled about using Salon, since it isn’t as well known, and since there is an advertising wall that hides the story, the title is damaging enough. McCain’s opposition to the GI Bill really hurts him, and tying him to Bush is just as bad. This title does both in a clear, straightforward manner.

8–McCain says overturn the law that legalized abortion

Pretty straightforward, and extremely important. More than half of all women voters think that McCain is pro-choice. This will quickly change their minds.

9–McCain Defends Bush’s Iraq Strategy

The classic McCain SEO, that still appears in top thirty searches for McCain and John McCain. It is also proof positive that this campaign will work, because it appears as the second CBS news article, but still on the front page in Google searches just below the CBS election center information on John McCain. That is all we need to do to get it on the front page of searches about McCain–optimize it against other CBS articles. Also, even though this SEO campaign was abandoned fifteen months ago, it still ranks in the top forty in McCain searches. If a fifteen month old campaign is still that effective, imagine what we can do with enough participation in this campaign.

Even if people searching for information on McCain don’t click through to read each of these articles, the titles alone collectively paint a pretty terrifying picture of McCain. Further, their wide subject range will create a trickle down effect for all kinds of searches on McCain. When people look for specific information on McCain’s issue positions, these articles will appear in the top ten for many, if not most, of those searches.

Action

And now the important part. Here is how you can participate in the campaign:

1. Blogroll John McCain: If you have a website of your own, create a blogroll link for either McCain or John McCain, that links to one of these nine articles.

2. Sign John McCain: Put an embedded John McCain link to one of these nine article in your signature line on all community websites where you are registered. Choose any one of the nine that you like.

3. Comment on John McCain: Whenever you write the words John McCain or McCain online, makes sure to do so with an embedded link to one of these nine article. Choose any of the nine that you link.

And that is all you have to do. If we can get only a few hundred bloggers to participate, we should be able to put six of these nine articles in the top twenty search results for John McCain and McCain before the end of next week. Over time, all nine should appear in the top twenty, and three or four will appear in the top ten. In the end, this should result in several million voter contacts that provide important information on John McCain. The contacts will all be effective, poll tested, non-partisan, and in line with progressive messaging in this election. They will also be educational, as the people who find these articles might forward them to friends and co-workers, or bring them up in conversations. The ripple effect should be quite powerful.

So, please, optimize John McCain today. Put John McCain in your blogroll. Put John McCain in your signature line. Link to John McCain whenever you type his name on a website. This is a quick and powerful action you can take, and it will help us win this election. There isn’t another action you can take this election that will have anywhere near as a high a return for the amount of effort it takes to execute. Millions of truly effective voter contacts just by creating embedded hyperlinks on John McCain or McCain. Let’s do this. Let’s make a difference. Let’s win this election. Let’s search for John McCain.

UPDATE: The first article about the recession being “psychological” has been replaced due to an oversight on my part. It now optimizes John McCain on the minimum wage. Really, I think this is an improvement. Please update your links if you used the first one originally.